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You’re the best, Orly Shepard. I love you so damn much.
I love you too. I’m almost done here.
She kept her gaze on Neil even as she smiled at her conversation with Luke.
“What are you smiling about?” Neil asked. “You think it’s funny to rob a guy blind?”
Orly grew serious then. “No. Do you think it’s funny to act like a creep and stare at a man you don’t know simply because he doesn’t have the same color skin as you?”
Neil balked at her words, then swallowed hard, a reddish hue climbing up his neck and filling his cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“There’s no use in denying it. All my friends saw you. Admit it, Neil. You’re a racist. A good for nothing loser who judges people solely on the basis of skin color. Did your mama teach you that?”
“Excuse me, is there a problem here?” A woman wearing a dark green tank top with the Madigan’s logo on the front and a pair of tight black jeans hugging her slim and perfect curves, stood holding a small serving tray in front of her almost like a shield. At first glance, Orly assumed she was one of the servers, but her name tag read Skyla. Orly remembered Luke telling her the owner’s daughter had the same name. It wasn’t a very popular name, so Orly felt it was safe to assume this was her. She had long black hair with purple lowlights. She wore it pulled up in a ponytail, except for a few loose tendrils that framed her face, accentuating her big brown eyes and naturally high cheekbones. A dainty purple butterfly tattoo peaked out from behind her left ear, and Orly thought she saw a name scrawled across its wings, but Skyla turned her head too quickly for Orly to be able to make it out. “What’s going on here?” Skyla asked Neil.
“Nothing,” Neil huffed. “I just want to close my tab and get the hell out of here. And this little wench stole a drink out of me, so you better not charge me for it.”
“No, she didn’t.” The bartender produced Neil his credit card along with a copy of his tab. “You offered to buy the lady anything she wanted, so there’s no way you’re getting out of paying your bill this time.”
Orly schooled her features at how comically red Neil’s face got as he stared down at the total. His eyebrows arched and his eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. “That can’t be the price of one damn drink!” Neil roared.
“You said I could get anything I wanted,” Orly explained calmly. “And I wanted justice for my friend. You’re lucky one of those fine gentlemen in law enforcement didn’t arrest you for harassment. I hear bail is a lot more expensive. Have a good night, Neil, and try to be nicer to people in the future.” She slipped off the stool, just as a large, burly man with the word ‘bouncer’ on his shirt approached them.
Still buzzing with excitement for getting back at the creep who’d made Caden feel small when he’d just been minding his own business, Orly headed back to her table where she was met with applause and huge smiles.
“You, my dear, are a force to be reckoned with,” Martin said.
“Hell yeah, you’re part of the family now for sure,” Garrett said.
“A true hero,” Blake added, holding up his half finished drink.
“You can buy us top shelf whiskey using an asshole’s credit card anytime you want,” Tanner added.
When she locked eyes with Luke, her breath caught at the pool of emotion reflected in his eyes. “You amaze me and surprise me and floor me and dazzle me, and I love every second of it.”
She let out a breath and threw her arms around him. He caught her, pulling her into him and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Thanks,” she said. “I just had to do something.”
Luke nodded. “I understand. I’ve gotten into a few fights myself with creeps like that, and it took everything in me not to start one tonight. I just didn’t want to do that with you here.”
Orly kissed Luke on the lips, and he put his hand at the nape of her neck, deepening the kiss as his friends whistled at them from behind. When he pulled back, they were both breathless, and completely ignoring the immaturity going on at their table. “I can’t believe you’re mine,” Luke whispered.
“All yours,” she said, taking in the feel of his fingers caressing her jawline. They stood there for a long moment, letting the world around them fade away as she stared into his beautiful blue eyes, until someone cleared their throat, bringing them both back to reality.
Tonight. Luke thought as he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, then guided her down to her chair. Tingles traveled down her spine at the promise of that one word. She couldn’t wait to be with the man she loved again.
She turned to Caden who looked at her with a blank expression, then returned his attention back to his drink. He hadn’t said anything at all to her since she’d come back to the table. Was he angry at her?
Orly wanted to say something to him, but Luke turned to her with a chuckle. “We’ll be ordering food in a few minutes because some of us are a little too buzzed to drive home now.”
“Hey!” Garrett protested jokingly. “It’s my night off, and I’m enjoying myself here.”
Luke shot him a look with no heat. “I didn’t name names.” He turned to Orly with a huge smile. “I was just messing with him. We were going to order food regardless. Did you see anything you liked on the menu?”
Orly tried to keep herself from looking over at Caden who was staring at an open menu now, his expression unreadable. “I’ll take a look,” she told Luke and opened her menu, grateful to have somewhere else to focus her attention.
She stared at the menu, wondering if she’d done the wrong thing, again. She’d only been trying to help, and Luke and his other friends all seemed to approve. Caden had just been so kind to her, doing everything he could to help with her case, and she hated seeing anyone treat him like that. But somehow it felt like she’d only made it worse for him.
It made her feel exactly the way she used to when her classmates teased and made fun of her. No matter what she did back then to make friends, Orly never got it right. She never fit in, but that was then, and Orly honestly thought things were different now. She wasn’t as painfully shy, and she really wanted Luke’s friends to like her because she loved Luke so much, and she knew how close they were. But Caden was his best friend, so if he didn’t like her, would that mean the end of her and Luke’s relationship?
